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Snake on hunger strike.....help

B

bliss

New member
My new corn which i got at christmas has stopped eating. He last ate 12 days ago, i'm getting really concerned. To start with he was eating every 4 days almost as soon as the pinkie was put down he ate it. He shed about 6 days ago, we have offered a fresh pinkie every 2 days and it has been uneaten and thrown out 24 hours later. He seems active enough, the viv temps at both the hot and cold end seem fine. Please help before he starves himself to death.
 
1st step is to take a big breath!

You're snake is just fine in the most likely scenario and he might be getting ready to shed. When was the last time he shed? Young snakes will shed about every 4-6 weeks and often go off their food before.

The other thing is if your snake refuses a meal....wait a full 5 days before offering another meal or it may become conditioned to refuse.

If you get all stressed out and worked up you won't have any positive effect on your snake.

I have adults who go off food for a couple of months at a time. You get to expect it as normal soon enough!
 
Sorry, shoudl have read a little more thoroughly!

Just let him be and wait 5 days before offering him food again. If he's been eating just fine, there's no reason to think he won't go back to eating soon enough.
 
thanks for that, i'll maybe stop panicing now, i'll wait another 5 days and offer another pinkie.
 
Sometimes snakes just stop eating, for reasons known only to them. My 18 month old amel finally ate this past Friday after a month of not eating. My son's ball python ate twice for us, but hasn't eaten since. I just keep offering food on his regularly scheduled feeding day, and he'll eat when he wants to. Yours will too.
 
Balls are known for going off food. Most of the time with cornsnakes, older adult males will go off food for long periods. I'm assuming that since yours is still on pinkies it's a hatchling so that shouldn't be a factor. As stated above, wait until your next scheduled feeding and try again. Even babies can go for long periods without eating, but there's usually a reason.
 
You may want to try a live pink next time. I've had a few hatchlings that needed their appetites "kick-started" with live.
 
Is there a product i can buy to soak/spray the pinkie with to make the snake eat, its now 17 days since he last ate, he's looking thin and is just not interested in food.
 
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